Grapefruit Tart with Vegan Shortbread Crust

If I were a good food blogger who was on top of what month it is (sometimes I for some reason think it’s May? Although there’s snow outside so, go figure), I would be ALL over telling you what heart shaped/chocolate/red colored sweets you should make for your honey this weekend. But, since I didn’t even remember that Valentine’s Day was quickly approaching, let’s pretend I had this post all planned out so you could bake this for your romantic night in at home and call it a day, shall we? I know this grapefruit tart isn’t red hued and isn’t chocolate, but if I were wanting someone to woo me with the best produce right now (HELLO gorgeous citrus), this would be it. My hubby prefers chocolate, but I’ll take a tart dessert any day (I mean, I’ll take chocolate too).

Growing up, I only ever ate grapefruit one way, straight up, with lots of sugar on top and with my dad diligently cutting around the edges for me to make eating it easier. I remember drinking the juice out of the half of the fruit after all of the flesh was gone, savoring those last few sips of sugar/tart juice before deeming it all done. Now I know that grapefruit is not only pretty awesome by itself, but even better when baked into a tart and nestled into an easy shortbread crust. With age comes wisdom, right? Since the shortbread crust has only a few ingredients, use the best quality flour you can! Bob’s Red Mill Unbleached White All Purpose Organic Flour has been my go-to for the last month or so for just about all of my baked goods, lending the same give that all purpose flour needs, without the bleach.

The crust of this grapefruit tart is sweetened with powdered sugar, but the filling gets it’s sweetness from my new favorite baking ingredient, cane sugar. I’ve heard and read about the wonders of cane sugar, but only recently tried it out, swapping it for granulated sugar in a few of my past recipes and loving the results. If you don’t want to use grapefruit in the tart filling, feel free to swap it out for any of your favorite citruses, I think a lime version would be perfect for the summer!

This post is sponsored by Bob’s Red Mill. Thank you for supporting the brands that keep this space going!

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8×8 pan and set aside.

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, coconut oil, and powdered sugar until the dough comes together. Press into the bottom of the greased pan and bake for 7-9 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. You don’t want to over bake the crust, or it will become too hard after you add the filling. Set aside.

In a medium bowl with a handheld mixer, beat together the banana, grapefruit juice and zest, sugar, vanilla extract, cornstarch and flour until fairly smooth and combined.

Bake for 30 minutes, until filling it set. Allow to cool and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, until cool.

Hi, I'm Abby and I love all things sweet, with a vegan twist! If you have a craving for a rich chocolate cake or love a flaky croissant as much as I do, pull up a chair because you're in the right place!